<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Bloodbruise in Development by Intent_To_Stay</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513021">A Bloodbruise in Development</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intent_To_Stay/pseuds/Intent_To_Stay'>Intent_To_Stay</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Emotional Manipulation, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:00:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513021</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intent_To_Stay/pseuds/Intent_To_Stay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In a fluid, errant motion, Orochimaru shattered the glass against the edge of the table. He kept an eye on stray shards. “Go grab the broom, please.”</p><p>Anko did. She felt an unseen splinter dig into her sandal, and it jarred her back to the present. She tried her best not to ask stupid questions. Her curiosity got the better of her. “Why did you do that?”</p><p>“Because some fool would make my mistake and try to salvage it. I needed to sweep anyway.” Orochimaru promptly swept up and threw away the broken glass and looked back to Anko’s paperwork. She got the message and returned to transcribing. Orochimaru returned to his own notes, but he added, “We have a duty to anticipate the flaws of our peers. It’s better to leave something unusable than just assume it will not be used again. Anything in your hands is always your responsibility.”</p><p>(Anko learned everything from Orochimaru, and she has the marks to prove it.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mitarashi Anko &amp; Orochimaru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Bloodbruise in Development</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After Anko makes chunin, Orochimaru begins taking her to his labs. He teaches her how to craft her own poisons and compliments her pragmatic design choices. He sits patiently through her first seizure when she begins the long and arduous process of developing her first immunity. He talks more about science and less about killing. “Afterall,” he says, “You’ve proved yourself. Now we can focus on more important topics.”</p><p>Anko didn’t especially like being a researcher. She enjoyed sprinting until her limbs rang with adrenaline. She could spend hours upon hours perfecting her aim with throwing weapons. Sparring with her sensei, or whichever ninja owed him a favor, was the part of the week she thought about before falling asleep.</p><p>But Orochimaru had never failed her. So, she shrugged on lab coats and paid unwavering attention to his lectures. She never had to write anything down. That was one of the things that always made her sensei smile--Anko’s memory was expansive and perfect.</p><p>“Espionage will steal you away if you aren’t careful.”</p><p>Anko simply shrugged. “I’m such a terrible liar. I’d cause an international incident.”</p><p>Her sensei laughed, dry and restrained. She couldn’t hide her grin.</p><hr/><p>Orochimaru hummed under his breath as he examined an assay of blood and snake venoms.</p><p>Anko looked up from transcribing experimental results into the proper forms. Everything was securely coded, so Orochimaru had delegated the task to her even though she didn’t have clearance. She was certain the experiments were regarding genetics, and she had decoded at least half of it already. She considered returning to her job, but curiosity got the better of her. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>Orochimaru waved her over. “The glass has a flaw.” He held up the capped tube to the light. Congealed red blood cells had aggregated on top of distinct layers of discolored plasma and organic solvent. Anko couldn’t detect any issues until a drop of pink liquid slid down the side of the tube and fell daintily into a disposal beaker.</p><p>Orochimaru sighed. “And that means the assay was exposed to oxygen.” He uncapped the tube and poured out the contents slowly. That was the single tell that betrayed frustration. Orochimaru only moved slowly when saying goodbye.</p><p>Anko observed the raft of congealed blood as it splattered across the glass. It was almost foaming. It hissed, just barely, over the sound of the incubator. “That’s the Sulfurtongue venom.” Their lab specimen had died two weeks ago after refusing food. Their attempts at synthetic replication had failed.</p><p>“Yes. I’ll have to request another expedition to Grass to gather more.” Orochimaru looked up from rinsing out the glass. Despite Anko’s painstaking efforts at developing a pokerface, he snorted. “And of course you can come. We might as well wrap it together with a mission.”</p><p>Anko grinned, all teeth and excitement. Grass had some of the most interesting biomes in the world. The sheer biodiversity made her understand how Orochimaru could bear to spend his time under florescent lighting surrounded by the stench of noxious chemicals.</p><p>In a fluid, errant motion, Orochimaru shattered the glass against the edge of the table. He kept an eye on stray shards. “Go grab the broom, please.”</p><p>Anko did. She felt an unseen splinter dig into her sandal, and it jarred her back to the present. She tried her best not to ask stupid questions. Her curiosity got the better of her. “Why did you do that?”</p><p>“Because some fool would make my mistake and try to salvage it. I needed to sweep anyway.” Orochimaru promptly swept up and threw away the broken glass and looked back to Anko’s paperwork. She got the message and returned to transcribing. Orochimaru returned to his own notes, but he added, “We have a duty to anticipate the flaws of our peers. It’s better to leave something unusable than just assume it will not be used again. Anything in your hands is always your responsibility.”</p><p>Anko nodded. Orochimaru was unfailingly precise in his actions. He didn’t use violence as intimidation. Not with his student. Even with enemies, he was diplomatic until deadly. Never in-between. She needed to remember that.</p><p>“What do you make of the results there?”</p><p>Anko stared down at the paper, and she didn’t have to think for long. “There’s an interesting correlation between chronic mental illness and the epigenetic signal you were examining. If the Uchiha didn’t cremate their dead, I bet there’s some interesting anatomical brain differences caused by that bloodline.”</p><p>Orochimaru’s smile, pleased and proud, washed away any memories of the past. Anko’s brother was dead. She was still here.</p><p>“I was thinking the exact same.”</p><hr/><p>“I know,” Anko finally said into the silence. She kept staring at a bird nest, with its two attentive parents feeding greedy chicks. The adult’s feathers were iridescent around the throat. If she closed her left eye, they glinted like sunlight through leaves. If she closed her right eye, they were speckled like a bloodbruise. Only in Grass. Only Grass had such beautiful, alien life. “It was unprofessional of me to do that. I should have--"</p><p>“I’m not upset,” Orochimaru said. He placed a hand on her shoulder. It did not have blood on it. “I made an assumption instead of consulting with you on your boundaries.”</p><p>“I’m a chunin. I should be able to handle it.” The vomit eating away at her molars said otherwise, and she would have spat if she were alone.</p><p>“You do, Anko. You don’t flinch from violence and your emotions have never been detrimental.” Orochimaru sighed. “That was an unfortunate circumstance. I dislike cruelty, but the subject was not responding to genjutsu-based persuasion. I should have explained and given you warning.”</p><p>Anko didn’t know if that would have made it any better. She’d had a panic attack before the civilian under actual interrogation. That was just shameful. “Between being a terrible liar and being pain-shy, I’m running out of in-village departments to turn to.”</p><p>“Empathy is its own strength.” Orochimaru took a step back and guided her by the hand on her shoulder. They needed to pack up camp and act on the information. They were on a time limit. The mission needed to get done. It was the only reason they were allowed to wander into Grass to find another snake. Orochimaru didn’t rush. He wasn’t hurried. He just knew that Anko needed to move. She had to be present in her own body, or she would petrify.</p><p>Anko followed, even though she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder. The tree python nesting in the branches was still waiting for the adults to leave the bird nest.</p><p>“It makes you perceptive.”</p><p>It would wait for days, blending into its surroundings with no need for sleep or water.</p><p>“It keeps you from needless bloodshed that some ninja fall into.”</p><p>Adult Blade Starlings were extremely agile. They handed down knowledge of how to leverage their long, needle-thin beaks as a lobotomizing pike to the eyes of predators.</p><p>“And it will make you a good teacher,” Orochimaru concluded, “once you make jounin.”</p><p>She wasn’t sure whether the snake would win.</p><p>“You think I’m good enough to be an instructor?” Anko asked. She had scrabbled among clanless rejects just for a place--and she had never imagined that she would be lucky enough to find a teacher like Orochimaru. When she really thought about it, she wanted to do the same. She wanted to find girls like her and make them deadly and powerful and wanted.</p><p>“I never would have chosen you if I didn’t believe in your potential.”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>